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help with my grizzly shaper

12-24-2007, 12:39 AM

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help me with my shaper. I cant seem to lock in the spindle. When I try to lock it in with the locking knob, the spindle still travels up and down during operation. The manual doesnt seem to help, I read something about "GIB" somewhere, but what is that? Thanks...Brew

I do not know what model and it has been some time since I looked at my Grizzly shaper,

but a Gib is a piece of metal or "filler" in the dove tale, of slide, and the Gib has some screws that take up the wear or distance of male part of the dovetail to the female part of the dovetail,

see the below picture and you will see the dove tail and on the side closest in the picture, there is a gap that is filled with a filler that is the Gib, and the screws on the side adjust the clearance of the Gib to take up the extra space,

I would probly try to give them a call, and talk to them, I have had good luck in the past when I had a small problem, (I had a part break in shipping and they sent out a new one no questions asked), I don't remember exactly now, as it has been many years, but the way the weight is hanging a casting can break if hit hard from the side, and my was in shipping and was causing problems that was not obvious at first look.
customer service page.http://www.grizzly.com/q_and_a.aspx

Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.

Comment

There are a series of screw on the side, and locking nuts, take an Allen wrench (hex wrench) (guessing it is an Allen wrench may be a straight screw driver), and unlock the locking screw, and lightly snug then, Hold them and lock the nut,
try the elevation lever, and see if it is to tight or not to move reasonably, as they will lock the slide nearly as easily as the knob can, and then do them all, if necessary back off jsut a touch, if it is too tight to raise or lower,

#116
#115A
are the screw and locking nuts

Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.

Comment

Ok let me see if I understand this. I want to loosen the 4 nuts that hold the gib, then turn the locking knob in, and then tighten the nuts back up? I have my manual and I see the numbers that you gave me (115, 116). I have also heard people talking about having to shim this, where would the shim go? Thanks again...

Comment

Ok I htought I was getting somewhere, but..... I loosened the nuts you were talking about, then I tool an allen wrench and tightened the set screws, tightened everything back up. It is harder to raise the spindle up and down now, and if I tighten the cutter height lock knob I can still raise the spindle although not as easy as before. I bought this machine new back in 2005. I dont really remember it doing this before, but if it was it would explain some of the issues Ive had with some of the projects Ive done in the past. I really love woodworking but Im not the most mechanical person, I guess its a bad combonation huh? Thanks so much....Brew

Comment

I would probly loosen the locking nut, and then snug the screw in, and then back it off a 1/8 of a turn, and then lock the screw holding the screw with the Allen wrench, and try that if it is to tight back off a touch more, if lose a touch less,

there needs some clearance to allow the the dovetail to slide, I have never shimmed in adjusting the Gib's or used a feller gage, my guess is there should be 2 thousands of an inch of clearance, but one should be able to snug the adjusting screws, and back off, make sure there is the center piece of the dove tail at the location of the Gib screw, to adjust against, if it is past you may bend the Gib, or push the Gib out to where the dovetail piece will not slide past,

Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.

Comment

if you can raise the spindle with the gibbs tightened and the height adjustment locked, then my guess is either in the spindle bearings or the bolt that holds he spindle cartage in place or the nut that holds the spindle in the bearing cartage

#219 or #216
or #129A bolt, (don't over tighten it, it could break the casting).

you may need some one to watch and or pull up on the spindle and watch and FEEL what is moving and come to a conclusion to what is wore or needs adjustments.

on small movements, you can feel some things before you will ever see them,

UNPLUG THE MACHINE BEFORE PUTTING YOUR HANDS INSIDE THE MECHANISMS

Right now you jsut need to play detective and figure out what is moving, (my guess is it is not the slide on the dovetails at this point).

Push sticks/blocks Save Fingers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."
attributed to Samuel Johnson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PUBLIC NOTICE: Due to recent budget cuts, the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil...plus the current state of the economy............the light at the end of the tunnel, has been turned off.

Comment

I had the same problem with a "Craftex" Now both machines are the same. Busy Bee sels craftex in Canada and Grizzly is sold in the states by the owners relative. They both come out of the same factory . I wont go into any more detail than that as it is a waste of time. I tried for some time to correct the problem but without any success. The simple solution was to put a stop on the hand wheel after you have your proper adjustment---never had the problem again. It's too bad Grizzly did not give you the proper clearances etc..Whenever I have a problem that could not be solved by the service people I would simply consult a reputable machine shop for the answers. It is a simple mechanism and you should have little problems to adjust it----as long as the parts are not overly worn or broken---don't be afraid to ask questions--hope this helps

Comment

Hello, you all have been of great help to me with this problem. Grizzly got back to me again and told me to tighten the gib as you all said, and if that didnt work then the gib may need to be replaced. Now that xmas is over I plan to get back out to the shop and try some more. Im really glad I found this site, you guys have been a big help. Thanks again....Brew